Dragonstar Drow Racial Template
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Like almost all the humanoid races in the galaxy, drow are also a primate-based lifeform, with DNA. Genetically advanced (or perhaps altered), they have more chromosomes than the other races and cannot naturally produce offspring with any of the other races, not even with other elves.
Drow
82 points
- Attribute Modifiers: ST-1 [-10]; DX+1 [20]; IQ+1 [20].
- Advantages: Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Hyperspectral Vision (Dark-Adapted, -60%; See Below) [10]; Less Sleep 4 [8]; Magery 0 [5]; Magic Resistance (2, Improved, +150%) [10]; Social Regard (Imperial Drow, Feared) 1 [5]; Unaging [15].
- Disadvantages: Callous [-5].
Other common disadvantages are Bad Temper, Bloodlust, Bully, Fanaticism (Empire), Intolerance (Total), or Sadism, and so on.
While drow are closely related to elves—they're also known as dark elves—they have their own society that is markedly different from their nature-loving kin's. Most drow are unrepentantly evil, though there are certainly exceptions. These individuals are notable for being out of step with their people's traditions, which include treachery and cruelty accompanied by an unswerving ambition to climb to the top of their social ladder.
Personality: Most drow are reserved and calculating. When they speak, they do so with care, sinister innuendo dripping from their ebon lips. They tend not to place their trust entirely in anyone, especially their own kind. They are slow to form close relationships for this reason, as friends can most easily betray you.
Good drow are certainly the exception to the rule. Most often, they have grown weary of the way their people constantly are at each other's throats. They look at how far drow society has come and wonder just how much better it might have fared if its people weren't constantly dragging each other down.
Drow society is thoroughly matriarchal. Drow women are indisputably in charge. The men certainly have their uses, but only if they keep to their place. Drow culture is heavily influenced by the worship of their Spider Goddess, and her priestesses are a very powerful voice in drow politics.
Physical Description: It's easy to tell drow apart from their fair-skinned and fair-minded cousins. The skin of drow is as black as the space between the stars, and drow hair ranges from a pale blond to shocking white. Their eyes are usually a baleful red. Despite these differences, drow share many traits with the surface elves. Men and women are equally tall, and the men are only slightly heavier. All drow are devoid of facial or body hair. Their features are finely sculpted, and their ears taper up into points. Most people find the drow to be alluring, almost unnaturally graceful. Their well-known cruelty belies their beauty.
Like all elves, drow do not sleep, instead placing themselves into a trance for four hours every day, usually at night.
Relations: In general, the drow dislike everyone, even their dragon masters. They reserve a special hatred for the surface elves. Few drow can let an opportunity to inflict misery on an elf slip away. Despite their sense of superiority, drow swallow their pride to serve the evil lords of Asamet. The power this position grants them is too attractive to be refused.
Non-evil drow have to cope with the reputation of their people when they meet someone new. The drow are known for their malignant nature, and it's hard for most people to believe that any could be pure of heart.
Dark-Adapted, -60%: Your Hyperspectral Vision is at -10 to Vision rolls to see infrared and ultraviolet spectrum in bright light of the visible spectrum (i.e. direct sunlight). In dimmer light, the penalty decreases, until, in absence of visible light, you have no penalties. The penalty does not apply to visible light spectrum. You may buy off this limitation at character creation, for 15 points, to gain full Hyperspectral Vision [25].
Drow Lands: The drow prefer to live in subterranean holdfasts, far from the blazing light of the sun. They can be found beneath the surface of most settled planets, and in underground complexes on airless moons and asteroids. The drow of the imperial worlds have a queen who rules from the planet Arakken. The queen pledges her loyalty to the Emperor, though the clans under her rule serve many of the Houses of Asamet.
Religion: The drow are fairly unified in their worship of their Spider Goddess, a demonic aspect of both the Destroyer and the Mother. The drow's goddess is the source of both nurture and punishment, love and cruelty. She is the giver of life and the bringer of death. Drow who stray from this faith always suffer bitter persecution in drow society.
Language: All drow speak Elven, though their speech is often heavily accented. The tongue they use most often is Undercommon, the language of choice for those who live in the vast, hidden worlds beneath the surface of countless planets. Undercommon shares some of the elegance of Elven, but its turns are sharper and meaner. The drow also have a secret sign language they use to communicate silently with each other, both in battle and in social encounters.
Names: When a drow passes into adulthood, she takes a new first name. Those who knew her as a child can call her by the name of her youth, but most outside of the drow's direct family—and some within—do so at their own peril. Drow wear their names with pride, especially their surnames, which can be stripped by the family matriarch as punishment for transgressions both real and imagined.
- Male Names: Drialcor, Xerxan, Balcioro, Menazzo, Krizchen.
- Female Names: Albastia, Zebrenza, Kelextra, Xandestria, Ukaydri.
- Family Names: Do'Banzil, Nozzenbin, Kalastra, Lothotira, Kalandrax.
Adventurers: Drow are most often encountered in the service of the Imperial Special Police Directorate, though this will be the chosen path of few player characters. Such heroes who have abandoned the evil traditions of drow society have reason enough to adventure. They are typically exiles from their homelands, hated for the stand they have taken against evil.
Drow Magic
Here are some traditional drow spells. For those raised within drow culture, some of the spells are easier than normal to learn, and they can ignore some of their prerequisites. Any other spells are learned normally; these spells serve as preqrequisites if appropriate. Drow that have only learned the traditional spells may not create magic items using them. That requires a fully-trained caster with all the prerequisite spells.
Dancing Lights: TODO.
Darkness: IQ/Average; Cloaks the area (base radius 4 yards) of effect in pitch darkness. A person inside the area can see out normally, but can see nothing else within the area. Those outside the area can see only darkness within. Thus, attacks out of darkness suffer no penalty, but attacks into darkness are at a penalty; see Visibility. The Dark Vision advantage lets you see through a Darkness spell, but Night Vision and Infravision do not. Duration: 1 minute. Cost: 2 FP to cast, 1 FP to maintain.
Faerie Fire: IQ/Average; Resisted by Will; Create a pale glow which surrounds and outlines the subject. Outlined subjects shed light as candles and do not benefit from poor light conditions when targeted by attacks. Unwilling subjects resist with Will. Cost: 1 FP to cast. 1 FP to maintain. Duration: 1 minute.
Levitation (Self Only, Vertical Move Only): IQ/Hard; The caster floats up and down through the air. Maximum Move is 3, vertical only. Duration: 1 minute. Cost: 2 FP to cast. 1 FP to maintain. Time to cast: 2 seconds.
Cheelian Drow
64 points
Advanced in biotechnology, the drow of Cheel screen out many harmful genetic defects. However, there is one thing biotechnology can't improve - magic. On their planet, magic has all but disappeared, and most drow are born without spell resistance and spell-like abilities. Magic-using drow are in great demand for maintaining the starcasters. Foreigners are now often hired for the task.
Personality: Drow of Cheel are still arrogant and hedonistic, but a good deal less cruel than their more traditional cousins. Their modern and advanced (if bureaucratical and controlled) society doesn't endorse brutality and excessive suffering, because it's not good for the economy. They prefer simulated combat and violence over real one. Drow of Cheel still scheme and try to advance at the expense of others. With the decline of magic, Drow of Cheel have become somewhat more trusting towards foreigners out of necessity.
Like other drow, they enjoy surrounding themselves with things of beauty, giving hardly a thought to the cost. A city in Cheel features breathtaking architecture and elegant revels marked by dark and delicious entertainments.
Physical Description: Cheel drow look like their drow cousins, but they are almost invariably beautiful or handsome due to genengineering. Cheel drow regain their ability to meditate 4 hours a day instead of sleeping.
Relations: Drow of Cheel regard all other races as somewhat inferior, except for dragons and half-dragons, which are viewed as equals. They don't really hate any other race in particular, after living dozens of generations without meeting any elves or orcs at all, the ancient enmity has been practically forgotten.
Drow society is still matriarchal and the priestesses of the Spider Goddess have a great deal of influence, but they are not the ruling power of Cheel.
- Attribute Modifiers: ST-1 [-10]; DX+1 [20]; IQ+1 [20].
- Advantages: Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Hyperspectral Vision (Dark-Adapted, -60%) [10]; Less Sleep 4 [8]; Unaging [15].
- Disadvantages: Callous [-5].
- Perks: Reproductive Control [1], Sanitized Metabolism [1].
- Features: No Appendix [0]; Taboo Trait (Genetic Defects) [0]; Taboo Trait (Unattractiveness) [0]. Female drow also have Easy Childbirth [0]; Extended Fertility [0]; Light Menses [0].
About the Drow
John Caspian:
The Empire has had its own law enforcement arm, the Imperial Police, since its inception. Over the centuries, the makeup and structure of this organization has changed a lot, varying with the whims of the current emperor.
It seems that Mezzenbone has a fondness for the drow—dark elves, as some call them. Immediately after his rise to power, he instituted a new division of the Imperial Police and called it the Imperial Special Police Directorate. He staffed the ISPD almost entirely with drow.
The drow enjoy their newfound power a bit too much, if you ask me. Their job seems to be the prosecution of anyone or anything deemed a threat to the security of the Empire or Mezzenbone himself. And they appear to have a lot of flexibility in carrying out their mandate. You'll recall that Captain Malizrek was in charge of the force that invaded my homeworld. I guess Mezzenbone considers worlds like mine a threat to the Empire, because the ISPD spearheads the Emperor's campaign of conquest in the Outlands.
The ISPD's tactics have often been the target of criticism, but when the critics disappear, things tend to quiet down a lot. If you run across one of these characters in their silver-trimmed black uniforms marked with the insignia of their Spider Goddess, your best bet is to disappear yourself before they do it for you.